October 2011

As some of you are aware, in my previous article, I outlined some of the major differences in philosophy betweenHordon Healthand the U.S. standard "big box" gyms. Now, I would like to recount the day that served as the straw that broke the camel's back, to turn a phrase, in my experience with Joe Fit.

My relationship with Joe Fit came to an abrupt and unceremonious end shortly after I
moved to Boston. At the time, I was an avid Crossfit athlete, and as such had a very
intense and decidedly different workout from the standard Joe Fit hamster on an
elliptical machine.

We get paid money to play
a game. A game that many people enjoy at a company picnic or during a visit to
the beach or the park. Our version of the game of volleyball is a little
different than the picnic version. In our game, the ball travels over 90 miles
an hour, and two adult men must cover every inch of the court. Normal people
suck air and get screaming muscles just trying to walk in fine beach sand that
collapses under their weight and seems to hold onto their ankles like quicksand.
We jump up and down in this stuff and try to smash a ball over a net that towers
eight feet above the sand, while on the other side lurks the opponent, just as
tall and strong and experienced as us, ready to use every physical resource he
has to try and slam the ball right back in our faces—the harder the better.

Let's get this out of the way. There is a good chance that in the history of baseball, there has been no athlete to gain 10% body fat in 9 months. You have to be amazing at gaining fat like that, gifted even. Beckett's inflation was most likely only 5% or 6% at most, which is a historic fat increase.

Athletes gain fat during performance as it is not exercise designed to lose fat, gain muscle, or any other exercise related goals. Rather the bodyperforms, which is why a highly effective off season program is so crucial to a player's development (see

Some time ago, I found myself traveling frequently around
the United States as a professional musician. Although I loved my life singing
lead for a touring band, it made my exercise habit a tough one to hold on to. I
was forced to join several of the growing number of “big box” gyms in order to
ensure every city in which I stopped would have a place where I could find the
equipment necessary to continue improving my body and my life through exercise.

As I drew toward the end of my time with that particular band, I had whittled
the list of fitness centers needed down to one, now ubiquitous, massive
franchise.

Once again, we find a American Sport conversation fall under the umbrella of treating symptoms on not problems...

I love American Sports, I love the way we embrace them, bond around them, and post up against them; but this problem treating symptoms is down to the core of our applies in our pie, and if left untreteated we will watch the money go down the drain like it has in New York (both Yankees and Mets), LA (they are bankrupt now yes?), and further on down the line of overpaid-underachieved sports franchises.